The Hall, Soon To Be Great
by OhTex
Summary: At the end of their first day of building, the founders of Hogwarts realise that maybe the Hall was not the best place to start building.


**A/N**: _I'm back with more Founders goodness! For anyone looking forward to the last chapter of The Lion's Tale, I assure it is being written...progress is slow but steady! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little one shot and, as ever, reviews are glorious!_

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**The Hall, Soon To Be Great**

Godric was the first to sit down and Helga was sure he would also be the last to stand up.

She smiled at that and waved her wand over the bubbling pot hanging over the small, temporary fire. She stirred the hearty stew and behind her, she could hear Godric shifting and sighing. She moved to the table beside her and uncovered the bread, pulling it apart into four large pieces. She heard a growling.

"Godric, was that your stomach?"

She turned in time to see him slumping in his chair. "Will supper be much longer? I do not think I can survive the wait."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, honestly! Do not be so melodramatic. You ate dinner not so long ago."

"It _was_ long ago, Helga. Far too long. And building a school is hungry work."

"He is not blathering on about his stomach again, is he?" Helga almost jumped at Salazar's voice coming from behind, his footsteps as quiet as ever.

"He is."

Godric huffed, opening a bottle of mead and taking a large swig. Rowena's gentle laugh echoed around the bare stone walls as she came to join them, taking the seat next to Helga's table. Salazar summoned two more chairs, one for himself and one for Helga, and sat next Godric, patting his friend on the back with a grin.

They all talked of their plans for the coming days - weeks, _years_ - as Helga served the supper and took her own seat.

"I think I shall begin below." Salazar said, swirling his bread in his stew. "I may attempt to build my common room below the lake."

Rowena tittered. "All that water, that pressure...goodness Salazar. I would rather you working down there than me. I should like to build mine up, perhaps in a tower."

"As would I." Godric agreed. "I do not like to have windows I cannot see out of."

"Well, I too have considered building below." Helga said, surprising all of them. "Though I would not like to go as far as the lake. I should still like some sunlight to enter my common room."

"Ah, but, dear Helga, you are missing out! Imagine the glow of the lake through the room; the wildness of it in a storm. It would be - "

"Disturbing!"

Salazar snorted. "Come now, Godric. You are not afraid of a little storm now, are you?"

Godric was so affronted he placed his stew on the floor next to his chair. "_Afraid? _You think I am afraid? Oh, you do not know what indignation you have unleashed within me, Salazar..."

"I am quite tired." Rowena said suddenly, making her three friends stop and look at her.

"As am I." Helga responded quickly before Salazar and Godric remembered what they were bickering about.

"Where are we to sleep?" Salazar looked around them at the bare stone hall.

"We shall have to sleep in here." Helga conjured some blankets and cushions.

"Here?" Salazar repeated.

"It is all we have, Salazar. Unless you want to quickly build yourself some chambers?" Rowena teased, laying out her blankets near one of the walls.

Salazar sneered and dragged his own makeshift bedding into a dark corner.

Godric caught up with him. "You are not _afraid_ of sleeping on the floor are you, Salazar?"

Salazar snorted and thwacked his friend on the shoulder. "Do not sleep close to me, Godric. You look the type to snore when you sleep."

Godric, in his typical fashion, grinned and lay his blankets out in the very centre of the hall. He lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. "It is very drab up there."

"Up where?" Helga asked half-heartedly, curling into her cushions.

"The ceiling." Godric paused before continuing. "I miss sleeping under the stars."

"Perhaps we could bewitch it for you." Rowena said from near the wall.

"Bewitch it? To make it what?"

"To make it look like the sky."

"Perhaps." Godric turned onto his side. "Though I cannot imagine that, once the school is built, we will have the time nor the enthusiasm to do it."

"We will see." Rowena said wearily.

A blissful silence fell over the hall and Helga felt herself drifting off at last. Until she heard grumble.

"I can still smell stew. I do not think I can sleep while it is taunting me."

"Well, you cannot eat it, Godric." Helga replied firmly. "Otherwise we will have not food for tomorrow."

Another silence fell before she heard Godric's soft murmur of "But I am hungry _now_" and Salazar's loud laugh - something rare and startling.

Helga squeezed her eyes shut as another round of bickering began.

They _had _to build chambers tomorrow. And they would have to be quick about it. Another night like this was not an option.


End file.
